Kotaro Suzuki
| weight = | real_height = | real_weight = | birth_date = | birth_place = Warabi, Saitama | death_date = | death_place = | billed = | trainer = Mitsuharu Misawa Pro Wrestling Noah Dojo | debut = December 24, 2001 | retired = | website = |birthname = }} is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by the ring name . He is currently working as a freelancer. Career Pro Wrestling NOAH (2001-2013) Suzuki was the last person remaining of a grueling thirty person training class in Pro Wrestling Noah's dojo. He debuted on Noah's 2001 Christmas show, and started wrestling under his real name of Yasuhiro, but quickly changed it to Kotaro. He challenged twice for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship in 2004, and was unsuccessful in both attempts. In 2005, he ended up adopting the guise of "Mushiking Terry," a gimmick tying into the card/arcade game Mushiking: King of the Beetles, defeating "Mushiking Joker" in his debut at DESTINY 2005 on July 18, 2005 at the Tokyo Dome, but his challenge for KENTA's GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship on October 28, 2005 was unsuccessful after KENTA started performing heel actions such as faking a low blow as well as mockingly joining in a Terry chant while applying a camel clutch. At the January 21, 2007 Budokan Hall show, he pinned Mark Briscoe to take the GHC Jr. Tag title for himself and Ricky Marvin. At the April 28, 2007 show, he defeated Tatsuhito Takaiwa to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (as Mushiking Terry). At Noah's Budokan show! Autumn Navigation '07, Suzuki (As Mushiking Terry) lost his GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship to Yoshinobu Kanemaru. He later betrayed Marvin by joining with Yoshinobu Kanemaru in tag team, which ended with they winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. Suzuki and Kanemaru joined with Genba Hirayanagi, and later joined the stable Disobey with Takeshi Rikio and Muhammad Yone. When Mitsuharu Misawa died, Suzuki (who was one of his students) adopted not just a green attire resembling the green tights of his mentor but started to use some moves like elbows and the Tiger Driver to pay him tribute and became a face again. He was later expulsed from Disobey and started a rivalry with his former partner Kanemaru. Suzuki would regain the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title from Kanemaru on December 5, 2010, ending his long title run. On July 30, 2011, Suzuki and Atsushi Aoki defeated Kenta and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the 2011 NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League, making both of them two-time winners of the tournament. On September 23, 2011, Suzuki lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship to Katsuhiko Nakajima. On October 16, 2011, Suzuki and Aoki defeated KENTA and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Ricky Marvin and Super Crazy on July 22, 2012. On December 19, 2012, NOAH announced that Suzuki would be leaving the promotion, after refusing to re-sign after Kenta Kobashi was fired. On December 24, Suzuki defeated Genba Hirayanagi in his final NOAH match. All Japan Pro Wrestling (2013-2015) On January 26, 2013, Suzuki, Atsushi Aoki, Go Shiozaki, Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, all of whom had quit Noah at the same time, announced that they had joined All Japan Pro Wrestling, forming the "Burning" stable. Suzuki and Aoki received their first shot at the All Asia Tag Team Championship on March 17, but were defeated by the defending champions, Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka. On April 7, Suzuki and Aoki defeated Hikaru Sato and Hiroshi Yamato to win the 2013 Junior Hyper Tag League and earn another shot at Kanemoto and Tanaka. On April 25, Suzuki and Aoki defeated Kanemoto and Tanaka in a rematch to become the new All Asia Tag Team Champions. On May 11, Suzuki made a one night return to Noah to take part in Kenta Kobashi's retirement event, during which he and Aoki defeated Kentaro Shiga and Tamon Honda in a tag team match. On July 5, following a mass exodus led by Keiji Mutoh, it was announced that Suzuki, along with the rest of Burning, had signed an exclusive contract with All Japan. On October 29, Suzuki quit Burning in order to challenge Kanemaru for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship. On November 21, Suzuki and Aoki, along with Kento Miyahara, joined Go Shiozaki's new Xceed stable. On January 26, 2014, Suzuki and Aoki lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to former Burning stablemates Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. On February 5, Suzuki's longtime partnership with Aoki came to an end, when Aoki quit Xceed to go solo. Immediately afterwards, Suzuki went on a win streak, which culminated with him defeating Masaaki Mochizuki on February 16 to win the 2014 Jr. Battle of Glory. As a result, Suzuki received a shot at the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Último Dragón, on February 23. On May 17, Suzuki defeated SUSHI to win the Gaora TV Championship. On August 16, Suzuki and Kento Miyahara defeated Keisuke Ishii and Shigehiro Irie to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship. On December 14, Suzuki lost the Gaora TV Championship to Kenso. On January 3, 2015, Suzuki and Miyahara lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to Mitsuya Nagai and Takeshi Minamino. On February 20, Suzuki won his second Jr. Battle of Glory in a row, defeating reigning World Junior Heavyweight Champion Atsushi Aoki in the finals. This led to a rematch on March 27, where Suzuki defeated Aoki to become the new World Junior Heavyweight Champion. On November 16, while he was still the World Junior Heavyweight Champion, Suzuki announced he would be leaving All Japan on November 30. He had signed a new one-year contract the previous July, but when the contract was afterwards changed twice, he decided to instead leave the promotion. Following the announcement, the World Junior Heavyweight Championship was vacated and Xceed disbanded. Freelancer (2016-present) On January 10 at Wrestle-1 Sunshine Tour after Hiroshi Yamato's title celebration Suzuki appeared and he set his sights on the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship belt. On January 22 he made an appearance in Pro Wrestling ZERO1 by attacking Shinjiro Otani after his match and made a statement that he wants his belt and he makes alliance with Mineo Fujita. On February 10 he defeated Andy Wu on his Wrestle-1 debut. On February 22 Suzuki appeared on FMW in a tag team match when he and Masato Tanaka defeated Tomohiko Hashimoto and Buffalo. On March 12, Suzuki defeated Minoru Tanaka in the finals of a tournament to win the vacant Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship. After five successful defenses, Suzuki lost the title to Yusuke Kodama on August 11. On September 18, Suzuki and Kaz Hayashi won the vacant Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship.On September 20 Suzuki participated at Pro Wrestling ZERO1's annual Tenkaichi Jr. tournament. On September 29 Suzuki made it into the finals but he was defeated by the eventual winner Takuya Sugawara. On February 3, 2017, Suzuki defeated Shinjiro Otani to win Zero1's International Junior Heavyweight and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championships. He lost the titles to Sean Guinness on October 26. On September 1, 2018, at Naomichi Marufuji 20th Anniversary Show, Suzuki announced his intentions of returning to Pro Wrestling Noah to take part of the Global Junior League. Later that month, Suzuki would win his block, after defeating reigning GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Daisuke Harada in his last round-robin match, finishing with a record of four wins and one loss, advancing to the finals of the tournament. On October 4, Suzuki defeated YO-HEY in the finals to win the 2018 Global Junior League. On October 30, Suzuki defeated Harada in rematch to win GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship for the third time. He lost the title back to Harada in his third title defense on December 16 at Great Voyage in Yokohama vol.2. During his feud with Harada, Suzuki formed an alliance with Yoshinari Ogawa and YO-HEY, who turned on Harada afterwards. On February 24, 2019, Suzuki and Ogawa defeated Hajime Ohara and Hitoshi Kumano to win GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. From May to June, Ogawa and Suzuki took part of the 2019 Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League. They would finish the tournament with six wins and one loss and one draw advancing to the finals. In the finals they defeated HAYATA and YO-HEY to win the tournament. From June until July, Suzuki took part in the 2019 Global Junior League, finishing the tournament with a record of three wins, one loss, and one draw against HAYATA, leading the two to face each other in a rematch, which HAYATA won. Suzuki and Ogawa lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Daisuke Harada and Tadasuke on November 2 at Noah the Best 2019. On November 26, Suzuki and Atsushi Kotoge defeated Harada and Tadasuke to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. In January 2020, Suzuki took part in the 2020 Global Junior League, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and two losses, same as block winner Dick Togo, but failed to advance to the finals due to losing to Togo in their head-to-head match. In wrestling *'As Kotaro Suzuki' **'Finishing moves' ***''Blue Destiny'' (Gory neckbreaker) ***''Endless Waltz'' (Rolling arm wrench inside cradle) ***''Excalibur'' (Spinning belly-to-belly piledriver) ***''Myst Crash'' (Three-quarter nelson suplex) ***''Requiem'' (Electric chair driver) ***''Tiger Driver'' (Sitout double underhook powerbomb) – adopted from Mitsuharu Misawa **'Signature moves' ***450° splash ***''Akushizu'' (Flipping release belly-to-back suplex) ***''Bit Blaster'' (Handspring back elbow smash) ***''Colony Drop'' (Inverted frankensteiner) ***''Funnel Blaster'' (Tiger feint kick) ***''Incom'' (Tilt-a-whirl headscissors armbar) ***''Javelin'' (Elbow smash to the opponent's chin) ***''Mass Driver'' (Belly-to-back suplex flipped into a spike DDT) ***Rolling elbow – used as a tribute to Mitsuharu Misawa ***''Zero System'' (Diving hurricanrana) *'As Mushiking Terry' **'Finishing moves' ***''Genesis'' (Sitout double underhook powerbomb) **'Signature moves' ***Death Valley driver ***Leg trap sunset flip powerbomb ***''Teradrive'' (Super sitout hip toss) *'As Tiger Emperor' **'Finishing moves' ***''Tiger Driver '05'' (Double underhook package piledriver into a sitout pin) ***''Tiger Suplex '04'' (Bridging leg hook tiger suplex) *'Entrance themes' :*'"Blue of Fear"' Championships and accomplishments *'All Japan Pro Wrestling' **All Asia Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Atsushi Aoki (1), and Kento Miyahara (1) **Gaora TV Championship (1 time) **World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **Jr. Battle of Glory (2014, 2015) **Junior Hyper Tag League (2013) – with Atsushi Aoki *'New Japan Pro Wrestling' **Tag Team Best Bout (2003) with Naomichi Marufuji vs. Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto on June 10 *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI ranked him #'148' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2011 *'Pro Wrestling NOAH' **GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times) **GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (5 times, current) – with Ricky Marvin (1), Yoshinobu Kanemaru (1), Atsushi Aoki (1), Yoshinari Ogawa (1) and Atsushi Kotoge (1) **Global Junior League (2018) **Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League (2019) – with Yoshinari Ogawa **Nippon TV Cup Jr. Heavyweight Tag League (2009) – with Yoshinobu Kanemaru **NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League (2011) – with Atsushi Aoki **One Day Jr. Heavyweight Six Man Tag Tournament (2008) - with Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Genba Hirayanagi *'Pro Wrestling Zero1' **International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *'Wrestle-1' **Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship (1 time) **Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Kaz Hayashi **Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Fourth Generation Champion Tournament (2016) Luchas de Apuestas record References External links *All Japan Pro Wrestling profile *Pro Wrestling Noah profile Category:Japanese male professional wrestlers Category:Wrestlers Category:Pro Wrestling Noah Roster Category:AJPW Roster Category:Wrestle-1 Roster Category:WAVE Category:Disobey Category:ANMU Category:S.A.T Category:Burning Category:Xceed Category:Pro Wrestling ZERO1 Roster Category:Stinger